The Virtues of Oxygen Quotes

“The hollow places in her soul felt less hollow because she had been useful to a remarkable spirit whose every breath—as forced as it was—mattered.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“You don’t just take what you can get when you’re young and able-bodied and reasonably intelligent. You set lofty goals, climb the ladder, fighting for every step. You scoot up to the wall between the sane and the insane and at least look over. Does anyone have an excuse to live an ordinary life? Not when you have all the resources you need to succeed. Not when it’s just about motivation.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“But that just proves that love is primarily a mental connection. What we truly crave—at least from what I understand of it—is a reflection of ourselves. People can’t walk around with a mirror in front of their faces all day, so they seek out someone who reflects back their own self-worth. Love, when you think about it, is a value proposition, much like the stock market, which is probably why I never quite gave up on it.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Financial security seemed like something that existed for a few decades after World War II and then evaporated even as people continued to believe they could attain it.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Holly could already see the inevitable sucking away of a lifetime of gathering, earning, and saving into the insatiable void of the health-care industry.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Looking back, I realize that nobody likes to be reminded of the fragility of the human condition.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Bartlebysnopes.com,”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Bartlebysnopes.com”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Does anyone have an excuse to live an ordinary life? Not when you have all the resources you need to succeed. Not when it’s just about motivation.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Remember when we were idealistic young journalists who thought we could make the world a better place? We wanted to chase out corrupt politicians and uncover fraud and investigate murders. It turns out we were just filling space around the ads, and nobody really cared that much about what we wrote.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“but the human will to live is primal.”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen

“Portia was the one to finally ask the question Holly knew”
― Susan Schoenberger, The Virtues of Oxygen